boy's name
Danny
DAN-ee
- Origin Hebrew
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 307,104
the United States
#628
2025 births
Danny is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my judge," a diminutive of Daniel. It ranks 76th in Ireland and 78th in Northern Ireland, holding on far better there than anywhere else.
- Danny is a name of Hebrew origin.
- Peaked in 1954, when 9,126 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 7,176 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1900.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Danny over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 66 |
| 1910s | 394 |
| 1920s | 1,779 |
| 1930s | 7,295 |
| 1940s | 46,816 |
| 1950s | 86,933 |
| 1960s | 61,031 |
| 1970s | 29,124 |
| 1980s | 20,196 |
| 1990s | 13,945 |
| 2000s | 10,634 |
| 2010s | 7,214 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,914 |
What Danny means
Danny means God is my judge, inherited from Daniel. The Hebrew joins din, to judge, with El, God, and the sense is a legal one — a declaration about who has the final verdict, not a description of character.
Where Danny comes from
Danny is a diminutive of Daniel, from the Hebrew Daniyyel, God is my judge, built on din, to judge, and El, God. Daniel in the Book of Daniel is the exile at the Babylonian court who interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dreams and survives the lions' den, and the name spread with the book through every Christian language. Danny became a standalone registration in the twentieth century rather than only a pet form, helped in Ireland and Irish America by the song Danny Boy — written in 1913 by an English lawyer, Frederic Weatherly, who set new words to the older Londonderry Air and had never been to Ireland. The song is now so closely identified with Irish emigration that its English authorship regularly surprises people.
Danny in use
Danny ranks 76th in Ireland with 78 births in 2025 and 78th in Northern Ireland, well ahead of 470th in England and Wales and 628th in the United States. It is falling in our data from a peak in 1954, so its position on the island represents a name declining more slowly rather than one holding steady. Our records carry it from 1900.
How popular is Danny?
In 2025, Danny was given to 462 babies in the United States, ranking #628 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Danny is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Danny
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Danny also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Danny over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Danny
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Danny in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Danny
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Danny — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Danny
What does the name Danny mean?
Danny means "God is my judge," inherited from Daniel.
Is Danny short for Daniel?
Originally yes, though it has been registered as a full name since the twentieth century.
Is Danny Boy an Irish song?
The tune is. The words were written in 1913 by an English lawyer who had never visited Ireland.
How popular is Danny?
Seventy-sixth in Ireland and 78th in Northern Ireland.
How many syllables are in Danny?
Danny has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Danny?
Danny is usually shortened to Dan.
Is Danny a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Danny currently ranks #76 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.